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@canvas-js/modeldb ​

ModelDB is a minimalist cross-platform relational database wrapper. It currently supports the following backends:

  • IndexedDB (browser)
  • Sqlite + Wasm (browser) with either an OPFS store or transient in-memory storage
  • PostgreSQL (NodeJS)
  • Native Sqlite (NodeJS)

Table of Contents ​

Usage ​

Initialization ​

Import ModelDB from either @canvas-js/modeldb-idb (browser) or @canvas-js/modeldb-sqlite (NodeJS).

ts
import { ModelDB } from "@canvas-js/modeldb-sqlite"

const db = await ModelDB.init({
  path: "/path/to/db.sqlite", // set `path: null` for an in-memory database
  models: { ... }
})
ts
import { ModelDB } from "@canvas-js/modeldb-idb"

const db = await ModelDB.init({
  name: "my-database-name", // used as the IndexedDB database name
  models: { ... }
})

Schemas ​

Databases are configured with a models schema, provided as a JSON DSL. Every model has a mandatory string primary key and supports nullable and non-nullable integer, float, string and bytes datatypes. It also supports a non-nullable json datatype.

ts
const db = await ModelDB.init({
  models: {
    user: {
      // exactly one "primary" property is required
      id: "primary",
      // properties are non-null by default
      name: "string",
      // declare nullable properties using `?`
      birthday: "string?",
      // json data is also supported
      metadata: "json",
    },
  },
})

await db.set("user", { id: "xxx", name: "John", birthday: "1990-01-01", metadata: {} })
await db.set("user", { id: "xxx", name: "John Doe", birthday: "1990-01-01", metadata: { home: "New York" } })
await db.get("user", "xxx") // { id: "xxx", name: "John Doe", birthday: "1990-01-01", metadata: { home: "New York" } }

Reference properties (@user with string values), nullable reference properties (@user? with string | null values), and relation properties (@user[] with string[] values) are also supported, although the foreign key constraint is not enforced.

ts
const db = await ModelDB.init({
  models: {
    user: {
      user_id: "primary",
      name: "string",
    },
    room: {
      room_id: "primary",
      members: "@user[]",
    },
    message: {
      message_id: "primary",
      user: "@user",
      content: "string",
      timestamp: "integer",
    },
  },
})

Setting and deleting records ​

Mutate the database using either the set and delete methods, or the lower-level apply method to batch operations in an atomic transaction:

ts
await db.set("user", { user_id: "xxx", name: "John Doe" })
await db.set("user", { user_id: "yyy", name: "Jane Doe" })
await db.delete("user", "xxx")

await db.apply([
  { model: "user", operation: "set", value: { user_id: "xxx", name: "John Doe" } },
  { model: "user", operation: "set", value: { user_id: "yyy", name: "Jane Doe" } },
  { model: "user", operation: "delete", key: "xxx" },
])

Queries ​

Access data using the query method, or use the get to retrieve records by primary key.

ts
await db.set("user", { user_id: "a", name: "Alice" })
await db.set("user", { user_id: "b", name: "Bob" })
await db.set("user", { user_id: "c", name: "Carol" })

await db.get("user", "a") // { user_id: "a", name: "Alice" }
await db.get("user", "d") // null

await db.query("user", { where: { user_id: { gte: "b" } } })
// [
//   { user_id: "b", name: "Bob" },
//   { user_id: "c", name: "Carol" },
// ]

Queries support select, where, orderBy, and limit expressions. where conditions can have equality, inequality, and range terms.

ts
export type QueryParams = {
  select?: Record<string, boolean>
  where?: WhereCondition
  orderBy?: Record<string, "asc" | "desc">
  limit?: number
  offset?: number
}

export type WhereCondition = Record<string, PropertyValue | NotExpression | RangeExpression>
export type NotExpression = {
  neq: PropertyValue
}

export type RangeExpression = {
  gt?: PrimitiveValue
  gte?: PrimitiveValue
  lt?: PrimitiveValue
  lte?: PrimitiveValue
}

Indexes ​

By default, queries translate into filters applied to a full table scan. You can create indexes using the special $indexes: string[] property:

ts
const db = await ModelDB.init({
  models: {
    ...
    message: {
      message_id: "primary",
      user: "@user",
      content: "string",
      timestamp: "integer",
      $indexes: ["timestamp"]
    },
  },
})

// this will use the `timestamp` index to avoid a full table scan
const recentMessages = await db.query("message", { orderBy: { timestamp: "desc" }, limit: 10 })

Multi-property index support will be added soon.

Name restrictions ​

Model names and property names can contain [a-zA-Z0-9$:_\-\.].

Testing ​

ModelDB has a test suite that that uses Ava as its test runner and Puppeteer for browser testing. The SQLite + Wasm implementations make use of Web APIs and are tested in the browser. The IndexedDB implementation is tested in NodeJS using a mock IndexedDB implementation.

sh
npm run test --workspace=@canvas-js/modeldb

License ​

MIT © Canvas Technologies, Inc.